The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1887-11-18
UNCLE SAINTS STRONG BOX.
Et wOuId He n sIEfIIfuI Burglar
Indeed, WHO Could Enter 1t.

Washington Letter to Savannah News,
dropped into tho Treasury yester-
day and looked at the workmen who
arc engaged in constructing the new
vault. The Treasure itself looks like
tomb. II has great sombry columns
down each side Of it, and the doors Of
Its basement are SO cut that they look
as though they we're dug out Of q
solid rock, Everything about it is
massive, and It makes me think more
Of the Bank Of England than any
other building | have seen. It 10
made in the shape Of a hollow square,
with wide tiers Of granite walls run
ming around court in the centre. It
Is in this court that the new yault 10
being built. Thick walls Of brick and
cement rise within, and the vault will
be above and not below ground. Its
interior will be cut up into cells walled
with iron lattice-work, and the work
men are now riVeting the iron bars
composing it together. These bars
must be very strong, as the weight Of
the silver which is to bo put in the
vault will be immense. There was a
portable furnace blazing away within
the vault to-day, and four men were
carrying rcd-hot Tivets and sticking
them through the holes which had
been drilled IN these iron bars, They
were then riveted by the pounding of
heavy hammer while a man held an
iron mallet against them at the backs.
each of these lattice-work walls re-
quires $500 FiVets, and it will take
more than one hundred thousand of
these riyets to fasten the iron-work of
the vault together. The vault is to
contain 100000, 1000, which is such an
immense sum that few people can COM
prehend it. 1t will give some idea of
it to know that its weight will be $3.50
tons, or the weight Of $4,000 mon of
900 pounds each. Think of the heay'
lest man you know, and it would take
1000 such men to weigh as much as
does this silver. 1t would take seven
teen freight cars to carry it, and 1t
would take a tram a mile long to
transport it, Its weight would be so
much that six locomotives could hard
ly haul it, and if these dollars were
laid ont SO that one just touched the
other they would make o line 1906
miles long. If they were put into q
floor, edge to edge, they would carpet
ten times the area of the capitol, OF
more than thirty acres, and If they
were piled one upon another they
would reach much more than 1900
times as high as the Washington Mon
ument, making a solid column of silver
more than l77 miles high. A million
dollars in silver is no small quantity
and when you pack 800, 100000 into
vault it has to be as strong as stone
and iron can make 1t. To rob thii
vault will be a physical impossibility
To tunnel into it one would have tt
go under the whole treasury building
and be would have to drill through !
floor of cement and chilled steel be
fore he got to the coin. The slightes
noise would be sure to be heard, anC
the movement of single bag would
cause such a racket as to bring thl
guards down upon him instsnter. NJ
attempt has, think, ever been mad
10 rob the United States Treasury
and the safeguards about ii are s.
strong that Done but the craziest 0
men would think Of trying it,